EckerNet.Com

The NATO alliance appears to have officially spoiled, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel made it clear that Germany would effectively veto any effort to even put Ukraine and Georgia on the path to membership, much less membership itself. Given Germany’s historically close relations with the US, this is quite a move. Even more notable is that the reasons for it are completely sound…

First, expanding NATO guarantees to Ukraine and Georgia is meaningless. NATO and the United States don’t have the military means to protect Ukraine or Georgia, and incorporating them into the alliance would not increase European security. From a military standpoint, NATO membership for the two former Soviet republics is an empty gesture, while from a political standpoint, Berlin sees it as designed to irritate the Russians for no clear purpose.

Next, were NATO prepared to protect Ukraine and Georgia, all NATO countries including Germany would be forced to increase defense expenditures substantially. This is not something that Germany and the rest of NATO want to do.

In it’s present form NATO has effectively been neutered. Thanks to over a decade of anemic military spending by our NATO allies (other than the UK), NATO not only can’t handle a relatively minor situation in Afghanistan without US assistance. And the recent conflict in Georgia demonstrates that NATO can’t even fight for an ally on their very doorstep.

Given that NATO can’t even protect what it’s already supposed to protect, taking on additional members, especially clearly endangered members, is pure folly. While both Georgia and Ukraine possess relatively impressive militaries, given the the size and wealth of their country, they aren’t going to contribute much to a NATO membership, making them a net negative addition to the alliance.

So given NATO’s likely inability to protect it’s current members without US assistance, and the fact that they can’t counter Russia, which was the mission for which it was established, what purpose does NATO still serve? Other than committing the US to providing for the defense of the entire Western world for yet another ungrateful generation of Europeans that is.